52 THE PLAINS. 



trusting that the Indians might not find my trail until I 

 had a good start, or to steal a horse and get away on 

 that. I had no compunctions under the circumstances ; 

 but I doubted my ability to select the best horse, and it 

 would take precious moments to change the saddle. I 

 mounted the mule and proceeded cautiously until sure of 

 being out of hearing, when whip and spur were vigorously 

 applied, and that mule never made better time than for 

 the next five or six miles. I crossed the Guadalupe, then 

 the Verde. All this part of the race had been through 

 woods and thickets. From the Verde to the Bandera 

 Pass was a slope of about three miles of bare ground. If 

 I could get over that and through the pass I was pretty 

 safe, as I could on the other side plunge at once into the 

 ravines and thickets of the Medina Eiver, in which I could 

 elude pursuit, at least on foot. When about half way 

 over this bare ground, to my inexpressible delight, I ran 

 into the trail of my command, but had hardly time to 

 congratulate myself before several Indians emerged in 

 full pursuit from the thickets of the Verde. Under whip 

 and spur my mule soon brought me to the summit of the 

 pass, and looking back I found the Indians had stopped 

 on striking the trail of the troops, and were carefully 

 examining it. Feeling pretty safe I also stopped to watch 

 them, and to blow my mule. After consultation they 

 went back as fast as they came, leaving me unmolested to 

 overtake my command, which I soon did. 



When travelling without a compass in bad, stormy, 

 or foggy days, when neither the sun nor landmarks can 

 be seen, plainsmen are forced to make devices to keep 

 their course. Sometimes a course may be determined by 

 the way the grass is bent by storms ; and this is not un- 

 reliable in the early spring, for the heavy winds of winter 

 being northers, the grass blown down almost invariably 

 points its loose ends to the south. 



The direction of heavy winds of any season is pretty 

 constant if not deflected by the vicinity of mountains, and 



